By the way Unk, you can also put a protractor/angle finder on the upper control arm shafts. That can help you find one more piece of the puzzle. If you had a stock Mustang to match it to, that would also be interesting.

You can go the heidt's website and check out their installation instructions. A few years ago when Gary was in charge he had a lot of Mustang II engineering info on the site..If you down load their New catalog read pages 67 thru 69 most of the old stuff is there,

You can go the heidt's website and check out their installation instructions. A few years ago when Gary was in charge he had a lot of Mustang II engineering info on the site..If you down load their New catalog read pages 67 thru 69 most of the old stuff is there,

The question now would be if the crosmember is canted foreward at the wrong angle, using the shorter arms and possibly longer slots moving the upper ball joint back to get the spindle at the right castor and camber angle MIGHT have the bottom ball joint binding, or too far out of the optimum operating angles. time for more measurements. mabe removing the springs and shocks. move the spindle up and down , checking, that and see if the tie rod to rack angles change enough to induce some bump steer, the 'Fox mustang racers use spacers to move the tie rod for autocross handling.

It's tough with things are off this far. I know in repairing collision damage there is NO WAY we would attempt to "align" out something this far, wouldn't even be tried, there is something seriously wrong with structure or components. That SAI is so far off I also have to wonder if it wasn't read wrong with the machine, that is REALLY a mile off. It says bent spindle when the SAI is that far off and the camber is the same, there is really nothing else it could be. However, never saw anything like it, 9 degrees, holy cow, we are usually talking a three or four max.

Unk, just going back to a real basic idea here, how far is the tire/wheel from the upper ball joint/control arm side to side. For that SAI to read as it does there would have to be a BIG difference side to side.

I would go back to the way it should have be done in the first place..Do it yourself.. You will come just as close..I can't remember the last time I let someone do mine..Get a good protractor/angle finder, And go to town... I have seen a lot of people go get it done on a machine and was worst off then they went in with..

I really appreciate all the effort everyone has put into this situation. My ability to get time to work on it has been put on hold due to my wife just having surgery.

I was able to get the before and after print out of the readings. Camber before was 1.3 on left and -1.3 on right. Caster before was -1.1 on left and -5.3 on right. Toe was -0.17 on left and -0.04 on right. SAI was 9.1 on left and 12.2 on right. Included angle was 10.4 on left and 10.8 on right.

Front readings before were as follows. Cross Camber was 2.6, Cross Caster was 4.1, Cross SAI was -3.0.

Rear Readings before are - Camber -0.3 left and 0.1 right. Toe was 1.30 left and -.069 right.

Rear Readings before were Cross Camber -0.3, Total Toe 0.61 and Thrust Angle was 0.99.

I have had the car out and driven it and it really doesn't seem to have any 'bad habits'. It tracks straight and doesn't pull. Doesn't seem to oversteer when turning. The power steering may be masking effort.

The Actual Final Readings per the print out are as follows:

Camber 0.2 Left and 0.4 Right, Caster -3.2 Left and -3.5 right. Toe 0.02 Left and 0.05 Right. SAI 10.1 Left and 19.1 Right. Included Angle 10.2 Left and 19.5 Right.

Sorry for so long to provide an update. Had car in Cavalcade of Customs and wife had surgery so not much time in the garage. I finally got the front wheels off and it was obvious that the problem is that the cross member when welded into the frame was too low to allow proper adjustment of the rear of the upper control arm shaft. These photos show the amount that the control arm shaft is cocked to get the camber adjusted and it causes the caster to be off. You can see the adjustment slot in the front and the slot is covered with the cross shaft in the rear. The lower A Arms are level across the car and are in the center of the cross member. It does not look like the lower arms are out of position.

I really didn't want to cut the cross member out and start over as I would probably have to pull engine etc. In looking at alternatives, I found that tubular upper A Arms have much smaller diameter housings for the bushings. The stock A Arm flange has a radius of around 1.25" where it is hitting the frame. The tubular A Arm has a radius of .800". The height of the frame to the centerline of the cross shaft is around .750".

New Tubular A Arms arrived today and my plan is to tear apart the front end, put new bushings etc in existing lower support arm, and make a small recess in the frame to clear the A Arm when it is at the inside end of the adjustment slot. I will weld in additional steel to make certain the new recess does not affect strength of the frame, it won't take much of a recess compared to what would be needed for the stock A Arms. I estimated that to use the stock A Arms would require a recess of a minimum of .75" while the tubular A Arms will only require about .25" depth and much less in length across the top of frame section.

I will give an update when I get it all done, will take my time to make it all look good as well. Thanks again for everyones help in getting this thing sorted out.
Unk

I have installed 3 stock mustang crossmembers in early chevy's.2 in 39's and 1 in a 38.I heated and dimpled the frame rails where the control arms hit the frame rail. a little heat and a couple of blows with a large ball pein hammer did the job. looks like it came that way. I did my 39 about 25 years ago and the others a few years later. I retired from the frame and front end business after 39 years,so I know what works,but I don't argue with the engineers.

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